Star Wars latest offering hotly tipped as 2017’s highest grossing film

With the recently-released trailer creating a considerable buzz amongst fans, William Hill has tipped ‘The Last Jedi’, the latest instalment in the Star Wars franchise, to become the highest-grossing film of 2017.

The British bookmaker has given odds of 1/6 on the film surpassing the $1.10 billion (£831.38 million) grossed by Beauty And The Beast back last March, but believes it will fall short of the mammoth takings of the previous Star Wars epic, The Force Awakens.

Released back in 2015, The Force Awakens grossed a massive $2.06 billion (£1.57 billion) worldwide, while also being the fastest film in history to gross $1 billion.

William Hill has given odds of 11/8 on for the new film to miss out on the gross earnings of its predecessor, and 7/2 for it to surpass the $2.78 billion (£2.10 billion) global box office record set by Avatar back in 2009.

The new film is the second in the ‘sequel trilogy’, with the final film scheduled for December 2019.

The Last Jedi was also given odds of 7/2 to be nominated for Best Picture at this year’s Oscars, and 25/1 for it to scoop the coveted prize.

Hills have installed Dunkirk as the 11/4 favourite for the award, followed by The Post and The Shape Of Water, both at 5/1.

Joe Crilly, William Hill spokesman, said: “There is no doubt that people will be desperate to see how the latest trilogy continues and it looks likely that this will be the cinematic event of the year.”